New Roku Streaming Stick Arrives, Kills Roku LT

5 March 20142,914 viewsNo Comment

What’s not to love? With a Roku box or, now, the second generation Roku Streaming Stick, you get access to 1,200 plus channels and more than 31,000 movies. The big advantage of the new Roku Streaming Stick is that it plugs neatly and discreetly into the back of an HDTV.

“The new Roku Streaming Stick gives consumers more choice for streaming entertainment to the TV than any other device,” said Jim Funk (pdf), senior VP, product management, Roku. “Consumers want a ton of entertainment, an easy way to search for movies and TV shows, and options to control the experience with a remote or mobile device. This new Roku Streaming Stick brings all that and more – and in a tiny form factor.”

The bad news with the Roku Streaming Stick? It plugs into an HDMI port and, thus, is not bus powered, so you’ll need to power it from an available USB port (waste!) or get the optional wall wort.

Also less than stellar is the Roku Streaming Stick’s $50 suggested retail price, which $15 more than Google’s popular Chromecast. Still, a Roku of any description offers orders of magnitude more content than Google’s stick or the Apple TV.

Worth it? I’m a big fan of my Roku LT, which provides more content than my binge watching wife and children could possibly consume, try though they may.

Roku Streaming Stick Kills

That said, the 2013 Roku LT ($49.99) has disappeared from the Roku.com site. The $49.99 Roku Streaming Stick took its place in the company’s product matrix.